Behind Blue Eyes
by Ragna ICEland
Summary: No one knows what it’s like to be the bad man, to be the sad man...behind blue eyes...Overused, I know and no, it’s not a songfic, it’s just that those lines fitted so excellently with the story.
1. Chapter 1

**Behind blue eyes.**

**_Summary: No one knows what it's like to be the bad man, to be the sad man...behind blue eyes...Overused, I know and no, it's not a songfic, it's just that those lines fitted so excellently with the story._**

_**I'm having this experiment phase right now, where I'm trying to stretch my writing abilities in all directions and this is my attempt for angst which I haven't been very good at, that kind of stuff always comes out kinda fake or shallow but I hope I'm getting better and it would be appreciated if you could tell me how you think I'm doing and make suggestions for improvement. Thank you.**_

**_WARNING: Curse-words, violence, sex and gall. You have been warned (but I still hope you read). _**

_Sometimes there is just no way out..._

He carefully chose a gun from the rack; it was a thirty-eight handgun, silver and went nicely in his hand. Well, it looked nice there. It didn't feel too nice. But he had gotten used to it by now.

_There was nothing they could do. The beautiful house was gone. Ruins in flames that lit up the dark winter night. And their parents and aunt... Gone._

_The blond and muscular young man swallowed the lump in his throat but paid no heed to the tears that were running down his face. He looked at the tall, dark-haired man who was standing beside him. The taller one -and also the older one -held a fist against his mouth like to keep from screaming. He was trembling._

_The fire department and ambulances were there within 10 minutes and the police sooner but it didn't matter. The explosion had torn the house apart within 1 minute._

_Most of the fire fighters were now trying to put out the fire in the house's foundations and others were carrying unconscious or terrified neighbors out of their houses. They had either caught on fire as well or large debris had fallen over them._

_The smoke blew over the northern part of town in the strong wind and many houses had to be vacated._

_Con Riley, head of the Bayport Police force was standing close to the brothers._

_A fire fighter came out of the house carrying something black but when he got closer and the brothers saw what he was holding, they broke._

_Joe screamed out in agony. Frank drew a sharp breath before he heaved up. Riley closed his eyes but he still saw it in his mind: A burnt and broken scull._

He screwed on the silencer and put the gun in a holster inside his leather coat. He then looked into the mirror. He looked pretty good. Except his eyes weren't quite right. He couldn't even act happy anymore. The outfit indicated a young man going out to have fun. Maybe going to a bar and have a drink or a few and maybe hit it off with a pretty lady. Not tonight. Or any other night. He took a deep breath and left the small apartment, slamming the door behind him.

_Joe accepted the drink Callie handed to him before she sat on the arm of the Lazyboy-chair Frank was sitting in. He downed the drink in one sip and slammed the dram on the glass table in the living room of his brother's two-storied top flat._

"_Did…did the fire marshal say anything?" Callie asked Frank._

"_Nothing we didn't know already," her husband answered. His voice trembled._

"_Which was what?"_

"_Somebody killed them in cold blood," Joe said in a thick voice._

_Frank nodded. "Bomb was probably…probably set off with a remote control."_

_There was a short silence. _

"_Will you be handling the case?" Callie asked._

_Frank shook his head. "We're not allowed to."_

_-"But won't you anyway?" Callie asked, knowing the brothers very well._

_Joe swallowed another lump. "Of course we will, we won't just sit and do nothing," he said angrily._

_Frank looked up sharply. "Yes, that is what we'll do," he stated._

_Joe gaped. "What? Frank… you can't just…"_

_Frank was shaking his head. "I think might know who-"_

_-"Why's eryone waking?" said a sleepy voice from the doorway. The 4 year old, blond-haired little girl stood there wearing a white nightgown, holding a teddy-bear._

"_Oh, hi Uncle Joe!"_

"_Hey there, sweetheart," Joe greeted affectionately but he didn't smile. He couldn't smile now._

_Frank and Callie were looking at each other worriedly. How were they supposed to tell their child about her grandparents and great-aunt?_

_Josephine crawled up to Joe's lap where she fell asleep again._

_Then there was crying from upstairs. The adults looked upwards._

"_It's like they know," Frank said gravely._

"_I better go check on 'em," Callie said. She squeezed Frank's hand before she went upstairs to the two years old twins, Georgia and Brian._

_Joe looked from the little blond head on his knees to his brother. "What were you saying? What do you know?" _

He took a taxi; didn't have a car. Cars were traceable. He leaned his forehead against the cool glass. It was raining outside.

The driver was a middle aged man, nothing interesting or suspicious about him; dark hair, dark clothes. But then again everything was dark right now.

He made the driver stop some distance from his destination. He'd walk the rest of the way.

_Joe was in shock. Frank had just told him that the people he thought had blown up the house were the people he was working for. Joe didn't even know Frank was working for anyone else but their father's private investigation firm. They both worked there and they were very successful. _

"_You remember the Network?" Frank asked._

"_Do I remember the Network?" Joe repeated indignantly._

_-"Well, at first I thought this was something like them, I thought they were good. I mean, they seemed good. It seemed the things they were doing were good."_

_-"But?"_

"_They weren't. They tricked me into joining them and now I can't get out and… and I must help them do those things… I don't wanna do."_

"_So… you're an Assassin now?" Joe's head was spinning wildly._

"_Well, if we keep using that analogy, then yes, I guess that's about it," Frank couldn't look his brother in the eyes. He was deeply angry with himself and he had no idea what to do._

"_They were… they were trying to… silence you… with this?" Joe could hardly speak, his throat was so dry and he was shivering._

_But Frank kept making it worse. "No… that was just a warning."_

_It felt like Joe's insides were full of lead, sinking lower and lower. Everything was so heavy and hard. He just wanted to grief his parents and aunt in peace. "So you're saying there's a bigger blow coming?"_

"_I think we should be prepared for it," Frank said. He stirred the scotch before he drank up._

_A few days later Frank was contacted by an agent. The company was simply called the Agency. It probably had other names as well, as an insurance or a real estate company –but the Agency was all the Hardys ever heard._

_Frank was right. The bomb was only a warning. To show they meant business. No 2nd chances, no swaying of the rules. No forgiving for mistakes or betrayal._

He was glad to be out of the building and back out in the coolness. All instructions were verbal but he had memorized them very well, he knew what to do. Actually there was one thing he had gotten on paper this time. That was a risk. Maybe they were starting to trust him. No, they just knew they had him in their pocket.

He called another cab.

_Frank made a mistake. He told Callie about the Agency. And somehow the agents found out._

_It wasn't until a year after the explosion._

_Frank came home late. He had gotten caught up in paper work. He, Callie and Joe had agreed on a system about contacting each other every hour. They lived in the shadow of a pending threat. Then one day it struck._

_Frank punched in a new code that reset the alarm system before it went off when he came inside. "Callie, honey?"_

_No one answered._

_He went upstairs. No one there._

_He called her cell phone. No answer._

_Then he called Joe from his cell phone, his anxiety growing with each second._

"_Hey, Joe, you still at the office?"_

_-"No, I'm home."_

_-"When was the last time you heard from Callie?" Frank waited impatiently while Joe looked at his watch and counted the minutes._

"_About…forty minutes," he finally replied, "What's going on?"_

"_They're gone."_

_-"What do you mean 'gone'?"_

_-"They've taken them." _

_Joe didn't waste time on explanations. "I'm there in a minute, all right? Don't. Go. Anywhere."_

_He reset the alarm system before he went into the living room where he found Frank sitting on the couch with his head bent down between his knees breathing steadily. When he sat back Joe could see his red-brimmed, teary eyes and his heart ached._

"_Do you know what they'll do to them? Will they hurt them?"_

_Frank shook his head slowly. "I… I don't think so…I, I think they'll use them to control me. Us. We have to wait for them to contact us."_

"_Why?" Joe asked._

_-"Because that's the rules."_

_Joe felt the chillers go down his spine. 'The rules.' "Fuck the rules, Frank! We have to do something!"_

"_What?" Frank spat at him. "What do you want me to do? I have no idea what to do. You think I don't want to? You think I enjoy this..?" Frank's voice was growing louder._

"_No, Frank. No, of course not," Joe sat beside him. He moaned and rubbed his knuckles. "I just can't stand not being able to do anything at all. And it's even worse when you can't figure a way around it."_

_Frank was touched by the emphasis Joe put on the word 'you'. But he was completely paralyzed. He knew the Agency wouldn't hesitate murdering his wife and children if something went wrong._

"_I wish dad was here," Joe said quietly._

_Frank nodded._

_They sat there together and waited to be contacted._

He reached to his inside pocket and found the flat plastic bag, the kind that forensics put evidence into. This one held an invitation card. Falsified.

He was in front of a skyscraper. He looked up. His destination was 23rd floor.

_They weren't contacted until the next day. Apparently the Agency worked slowly that way._

_The brothers had fallen asleep on the couch, each leaning their head on the arms of the couch._

_When they woke up a man was standing in front of them. A pretty normal looking man. Maybe thirty-something, brown hair, black suit, neatly shaved, no accent, no special kind of characteristics, no nothing. Just an ordinary looking business man._

"_Hood wants to meet you, both," he said._

_The brothers were taken to a car, they were blindfolded but they knew by the time the drive took and the sounds from outside that they were being taken to New York._

_They both guessed the car was parked in a cellar parking lot under some building. They were led to an elevator, and down some corridors and up and down more elevators and corridors. Again, they guessed they were just being confused. The blindfold was never taken off until they stopped in a dark room._

_The window was covered by thick, dark red draperies behind a Mahoney desk and the only light in the room came from a lamp on it. There were two chairs in front of the desk and one behind it, empty._

_Four men stood behind the Hardy brothers, all very similar to the messenger. There were three doors in the room, one behind them, one on the left and one on the right._

_First the one on the left opened and a man came in. He was just like all the others, perhaps slightly older. Frank recognized him. He had met him once before. In another place. He called himself Robin Hood. As did all the leaders or spokesmen of the Agency's leaders._

_Frankly, he wasn't sure what the Robin Hoods did exactly. Frank had met two others of them, both in different places._

"_Good morning, Hardys," he said politely. Nothing special about his voice either._

"_Where's my family?" Frank demanded._

_Hood answered by looking at the door to the right. As on a cue they opened and Callie came in accompanied by a man and a woman. Agents obviously._

_Callie ran straight at Frank and hugged him tightly._

"_Oh, baby! Are you ok?" she kissed him, half-sobbing._

"_Yeah, I'm ok. We, we're ok. Are you? The kids?" he was kissing her back._

"_Yeah, yeah, we're fine, we're good…"_

_And their arms locked around each other, they lost themselves in their fierce caresses like it was their last ever._

_Everyone else in the room just watched expressionless. Except for Joe who was fighting the urge to reach for his gun –which hadn't been taken away from him –shoot the agents and run. But he knew that was a hopeless plan. Hell, it wasn't even a plan. And the building was probably ranked with them anyway._

_When Frank and Callie finally stopped they had to wipe their mouths with their sleeves but they didn't let go of each other._

"_Well," Hood started, "We have an assignment for you."_

_Joe was surprised and startled when he realized the words were directed at him. He glanced at Frank._

_Hood noticed. "Don't worry. Your brother will not be harmed as long as you follow the rules. Otherwise however…well…I'll be sure to let you know if something goes wrong…And you Frank, are going to help him. The assignment is this: We will give you a name. Frank will work a safe plan to get to and away from the target and Joe will execute. Quite simple."_

"_You want me to…kill people?" Joe's voice came out hoarse with his shock._

"_Yes," Hood answered._

"_I can't…I can't…I can't do that..."Joe had never felt worse in his life, including when his parents were killed._

"_Well, you must, Joe," Hood said softly, "Because, believe me, I'd hate for anything to happen to the little ones."_

_Now he did feel worse than a few seconds ago. He was stuck. Perfectly trapped, no way out._

"_I'm gonna be sick," he was sweating, and breathing in sobs and his heart was beating so hard he thought it might break his chest._

_An agent hurriedly grabbed an aluminum dust bin from a corner of the room and placed it in front of Joe who caved in and retched into it._

_After a while he trusted himself to lift his head again and accepted a cloth from an agent to clean himself._

_Callie looked into his eyes. "Oh, Joe…" she whispered. Then she threw her arms around his neck and cried._

_Frank squeezed his shoulder, unable to think of a way to comfort his brother. What was he supposed to do? He was surprised that Joe was to…"execute"…Probably the agents just thought they gained something from having both Hardy bothers at their mercy. _

_But he knew Joe would do anything for the kids, kill or die himself. Just like Frank would._

"_Well, to make everything a bit better, I'll give you three a moment with the children. We'll be outside," Hood stood up and followed the other agents out the door the brothers had come through and closed them._

_Then the door that Callie had come through opened and Josephine, Georgia and Brian entered._

_Their eyes lit up when they saw Frank. "Daddy!"_

_The twins now 3 years old, clumsily ran to him and hugged him. He couldn't help but shedding a few tears._

"_Dad, what are we doing here?" 5 year-old Josephine asked._

"_Well, Jo, honey…" Frank's voice trembled, "You need to stay with these people…for…for a while."_

"_Yeah, but who are they?" the girl persisted._

"_They…um…they're…me and Uncle Joe, we… work for them and they're gonna baby-sit you instead."_

_Frank was afraid. Would the last thing he'd ever say to his children be a lie? _

"_It's too dark, there isn't any windows," Georgia complained._

"_It's boring," Brian pouted, "No toys."_

"_Well, I'll talk to them about that, ok?" Frank smiled at him._

_Brian thought for a moment. Then he shrugged. "Ok."_

_Josephine wasn't so willing to buy it right away. She was eying the adults so suspiciously they thought she saw right through them._

"_What happened to you, Uncle Joe? Are you sick?"_

"_Yeah, don't worry about it sweetheart, it'll pass," Joe brushed her off and tried his best to smile._

"_What do we do?" Callie asked._

"_We follow the rules," Frank said determinedly._

"_But…" then Callie seemed to understand and began whispering, "The room's bugged, isn't it?"_

_Frank nodded but didn't lower his voice. "Yeah, probably, but it doesn't matter," he looked at Joe, "I want you to promise me you'll take no chances when it comes to my family. Never."_

_Joe gazed at him from the corner of his eye. "This is my family too. You…" his voice broke and he looked away._

"_I know, I know, I'm sorry," Frank apologized, "I just…"_

_-"Yeah, I know," Joe cut him off._

"_What's going on?" Josephine asked confused._

"_It's gonna be ok, I promise," Frank lifted her up and held her on his arms._

_Then Hood and six more agents came in. "Well, it's time to start. You oughta say goodbye to each other because you'll be separated for some time."_

"_Are you keeping the children here?" Frank asked._

"_No, they'll be taken outside the city. They'll be by the sea. I'm sure they'll have fun and their mother goes with them," Hood snapped his fingers and two of the agents moved to each side of Callie, ready to follow her out._

_She hesitated before she threw herself at Joe and hugged him and then Frank. They held on a bit longer. Then a one last kiss and then she and the kids left after they had also given Frank and Joe their hugs, and kisses goodbye._

_And the brothers were alone with Hood. He sat back down behind the desk, put on reading glasses and started writing something down._

"_You two will also be separated," he said without looking up._

_The brothers nodded knowingly. They had been expecting that._

"_The only way for you to contact each other will be through agents and Frank, should Joe fail in something…you'll be the first to know…"_

_Two agents grabbed Frank's arms and dragged him away. He cast a desperate glance at Joe who felt more alone than ever._

_There was silence._

"_Permission to speak," Joe said. Just in case._

_Hood looked up. Something flickered in his eyes. This military manner of speaking seemed to have touched something in Hood. Joe remembered that._

"_Granted."_

_-"What are the rules? You keep going on about the rules, what are they?"_

_Hood leaned back in the chair. "There is actually only one rule but it's very extensive so…"_

_Joe lifted his eyebrows questioningly._

"_The rule is simple: Follow all orders. If you don't, you get punished."_

"Good evening, Mr. Hardy," a middle-aged lady wearing a glittering evening gown greeted him.

He handed her the invitation card and nervously waited while she inspected it loosely.

"I am so sorry about your father, he helped me a lot many years ago," the woman smiled sadly, "I realize it's been some time but I haven't met you since…then… I haven't gotten the chance to offer my condolences."

He smiled politely. The smile didn't reach his eyes. "Thank you, Mrs. Rogers."

"Was that case ever solved? Did they ever find out who was responsible for the explosion?" Mrs. Rogers who was a member of the city counsel, asked curiously.

He shook his head. "No. There were many theories but…" he left the sentence hanging.

"And then this thing with your brother and his family. It's terrible…. How much can you put on one man's shoulders," she sighed dramatically and finally handed him back the invitation card.

People greeted him from all directions and women's eyes followed him, while he was looking around for his target. He wondered how disgusted this people would be, this people that respected him and appreciated, if they knew how soaked his hands were of innocent blood. Perhaps not completely innocent though. He never knew much about the victims, didn't want to know. But it seemed to him that even though most of them were maybe no saints, they did not deserve to die.

He hated the situation. So many people he knew he had to put up a fake smile and shake hands with.

But he did what he had to do.

_Joe was shown a picture and given a location, a plan and an exact timing._

_He fought to keep his breath steady._

"_Do you see him?" Hood asked, holding the photograph in front of him._

"_Yes," Joe replied._

_-"Are you certain?"_

_-"Yes." He thought the image would be forever burnt in his memory and would haunt him every night when he closed his eyes._

"_Good. The agents will take you to your apartment where you will prepare yourself; we will give you tools for this assignment but after that you must provide your own equipment according to the plan and get yourself to the location…with possible exceptions though," Hood put the photograph into an envelope and into the desk drawer._

_Joe snorted. "For something as vast as you people, you seem pretty poor employers."_

_-"We take no chances," Hood answered seriously._

'_Cowards.' Joe wanted to spit it at him but he followed the Agency's example. Took no chances. _

_Then he was blindfolded again and taken here and there in the building before returning to the underground parking space and into the car and back to Bayport._

_He went over the plan a few times in his head. He tried to eat but couldn't. Once he had the phone in his hand, had punched in Con's number but didn't call._

_It was beginning to grow dark when he grabbed his jacket off the stool back and left the apartment._

_The location was downtown. He knew his way round. It was a filthy joint, hidden in the maze of Bayport's underworld, near the warehouses by the docks._

_If hadn't been so distracted by his intentions he would have been dying with the shame of being seen in this place._

_The outer look didn't matter in there. This was the kind of place where everyone rich, poor, powerful and powerless gathered and let out the devil in them: Unclean young men in torn clothes scarred and bruised by the hard life in the underworld and tidy, combed, suit-dressed, middle-aged men with suitcases and knee-long coats, smoking their fine cigars._

_He bought a bottle of bear at the bar. Then he went to the toilets. They were so disgusting; he thought he'd throw up. But he waited in the booth. While he waited, he emptied the bottle into the toilet, very slowly, in long spurts. That made pretty much the right sound._

_When he was sure he was alone he quickly opened the booth, turned on the water and filled the bottle._

_When he came out he scanned the crowd for the one he was looking for, occasionally sipping from the bottle and drumming his head to the beat of the music. _

_He saw him sitting with three other men. They were all of the higher class. But they sat there with their vodka and cigars and enjoyed watching the two strippers on the stage close to their table._

_Joe shouldered his way towards them. He slammed his hand down on the man's shoulder._

"_Sir, I must ask you to follow me," he said with as much authority as he could._

_The man looked up. "I haven't done anything," he said defensively._

"_Should we discuss that with your wife?" Joe ventured to threat after noticing a wedding ring._

_The man narrowed his eyes at him. "Who the hell are you?"_

_Joe felt a little bit better about this. He would have hated it even more to hurt someone who knew him._

"_A cop. Let's go, now, please."_

_The man rolled his eyes but stood up and followed him unsteadily outside._

_Joe led him around until he found an empty alley._

"_What exactly are we doing here?" the man asked suspiciously._

_Joe didn't answer. He was starting to shake with anxiety and his breathing became shallow. He turned to face the man, He had him trapped in the alley and even though the man was taller than him, he knew he could overpower him; he was drunk and unfocused._

_Joe clenched his gloved fists._

_The man saw the change in him. "Tell me! What is going on?!" he demanded, he was getting afraid._

_Joe desperately tried to find a way out of this but all his mind did was replaying his last moments with his family. The look Frank sent him as he was being dragged away. The children hugging him goodbye…_

_Some sort of a combination of a growl and a sob escaped his lips as he lifted his arm and struck the man over the head. And again, and again._

_The man fell to the ground but Joe kept on brutalizing him. He absolutely hated having to do the poor man over with his bare hands. He stopped to look around for something to finish with. He saw a pile of broken boards and sticks stacked up against the wall. He took up one stick and turned to the victim._

_He couldn't. He couldn't kill a man. He was shaking violently and his lungs could hardly keep up with his rapid breathing._

'_Come on, Joe. You must, you must…' But he just couldn't. He stood over the half-unconscious man, lying before him drenched in blood. Some bones were probably fractured or broken too. But Joe couldn't do it._

"_I can't! I can't do this!" he screamed out before falling to his knees. He wanted to throw up. His stomach twisted and he gagged but nothing came up except a bit of slimy saliva._

_The next thing he knew, two people came from behind him. Quickly and quietly they finished off the man. Carelessly threw the bloody stick away. Then one of the men found Joe's tool bag in his pocket and took up a small bag of white powder. He strew tiny little grains of it all over the alley, on the man and lastly put a bit into a soda straw and blew it into the man's nostrils. Then he found his wallet in the inside pocket of the coat and took it, as well as his cell phone, watch and a thick golden ring on his left index finger. _

_The other man grabbed Joe's shoulder where he still kneeled in the dirt. "Come on, Hardy. Time to go." _

He saw the target by the balconies in the enormous hall. It was well but delicately decorated. A huge chandelier hung in the ceiling 20 feet above and illuminated the hall. It was filled with people and the light ricocheted on ridiculously expensive glittering and glowing dresses and jewelry and the bubbly champagne in the tall wineglasses.

There was a table in the middle, nearly swaying beneath all kinds of ramekins and 7 feet long marzipan cake which on read in chocolate letters: '_Congratulations, Mayor. In hope for another 50 successful years_.'

The target was a woman. She was tall and thin with blond, short curly hair. Her eyelids seemed heavy under tons of layers of make-up. The golden jewelry around her neck and arms were simple but clearly very expensive. Her long dress was also golden and went well over her figure.

He watched her from some distance. She didn't speak with anybody there. She seemed distant and uncomfortable.

He tried not to make any assumptions about her though, tried not to think of her as a person. She was just the target.

_The agents drove Joe home. For an entire hour he just sat still on the couch, unable to move. Then he started to pull himself together. He took a shower and ate a little bit. Then he became nervous. Would they hurt Frank? Or Callie or the children? He knew he had messed up but he wasn't sure what the punishment would be._

_He didn't find out until two days later. Then he was contacted again. When he came home from work –where he hadn't gotten much done –two agents were waiting outside his apartment block._

_They took him to New York, blindfolded like the last time. Everything was done like the last time and when the blindfold was taken off he found himself in the same office with Hood._

"_You failed, Joe," he said._

_Joe waited._

"_You didn't follow the orders," Hood watched him accusingly. "We had to punish your brother."_

_Joe's heart sank. Hood stood up from the desk and walked over to the door on the left._

"_Come on, follow me."_

_Joe obeyed._

_It seemed to be some kind of control room or surveillance room. There were many monitors on the wall and computer equipment and a few agents._

_Hood pointed at one of the screens._

_Joe twitched when he saw a lone figure sitting in a chair in the middle of an otherwise empty room. _

"_Frank…" he whispered brokenly._

_Frank was bound to the chair; his face was almost unrecognizable as bloodied and swollen and bruised as it was. Blood had dried in his clothes. Though the picture was small, Joe still noticed clean streaks on his brother's bloodied cheeks, and he silently cried too._

"_If you screw up too much, Joe, sooner or later there won't be so much left of your brother and then his wife and children will replace him," Hood said._

_Joe looked at him. He hated him. If there was a person on this earth he'd gladly kill, it would be him._

_He turned away from the monitor and closed his eyes. Frank's voice echoed in his mind:_

"_**I want you to promise me you'll take no chances when it comes to my family. Never." **_

_He would never screw up again._

"_Do we understand each other?" Hood asked._

_Joe nodded weakly._

"_Good. You will be contacted when we have another assignment for you."_

He followed her when she went out on the large semi-circle shaped balcony.

Her back was bare and her shoulder blades stuck out a little. He thought she was just a little too skinny. But that didn't matter any more.

He got closer to her. She was leaning over the guardrail. The balcony was shielded by the balcony on the next floor and only a few raindrops made it there. Also, this side of the building was in shelter from the wind direction.

He came to stand beside her. "Care for a company?"

She looked up. Her eyes were green. "Thank you, but I'm not that much of a company myself."

"That's fine. At least we can be bored together," he smiled dryly.

She smiled back.

_He had the man at the right place. This one was older than the last but he'd found him a similar place._

_The gray-haired man was standing on a pier on a far end of the docks. It needed much repairing._

_Joe was hiding under it._

"_Where are you?" the man weakly yelled._

_It was different than the last time. When Joe had found him, he'd told him he kidnapped his daughter for ransom and wanted to meet at this place._

_He was wearing out-worn jeans, a black parka and a black cap, hiding his hair, and a black scarf covered his mouth and nose and his eyes were covered by swimming glasses._

_The area was empty and the only sound came from the waves, lazily coming back and forth against the shore._

_Joe waited until he heard the man was standing directly above him. Inside the loop. He yanked the rope. The loop tightened around the man's ankles, he lost his balance and fell into the sea. A heavy stone was tied to the main rope and the man pulled it down with him when he fell and held him underwater so Joe didn't have to do anything but wait._

_When he was sure he'd waited long enough, he waded into the sea, nosing himself by the rope. The freezing cold water was deeper than he could reach when he got to the body so he had to dive down. He had had the pocket knife in his mouth but now he used to cut the rope off the man's ankles and the stone._

_Then he waded back under the pier and pulled the rope with him. He looked over the water. The body would probably float up and to the shore but he was sure it would take some time to find it._

_With stiff muscles and chattering teeth he walked towards the boat shelters, tried to keep out of sight. By one of them he had stashed a bag with dry clothes. He changed and put the rope into the bag with the wet clothes._

_Then he stopped to take a deep breath and let it sink in. He had killed a man. He squeezed his eyes shut. Imagined what it must have been like for the poor man. The thought almost made him gag._

_He shook his head. He had to. For his family._

They were talking. Mostly they just talked about general things that were frequently on the news and such. He avoided all together asking personal questions about her.

Judging by the first impression, she just looked like rich but a lonely young woman. He had taken notice of the wedding ring on her finger. He couldn't help but guess she was probably married one of the old, greedy fogies inside. What if her husband came out? That would not be good.

_He wasn't contacted again until two weeks later. Two agents were waiting outside his office. He wasn't blindfolded this time. They took him to a hotel in Bayport. There was Hood._

"_Well Joe, last assignment was successful," he said._

_Joe didn't say anything. He didn't realize Hood was looking for a confirmation._

"_Well?" he pressed._

_Then Joe understood. "Yes," he mumbled. "Successful."_

_-"Good. I hope this one will be too…for your own and your family's sake."_

_He couldn't believe this plan. Frank couldn't have made it. It was full of loops and situations where he had to depend on sheer luck. The timing wasn't set until the next night but in the meanwhile he had to get himself to New York. There he checked in a motel room and waited for the right time._

_He dressed up according to the plan. Clean jeans, white, tight t-shirt showing off his abs and a leather jacket. He thought about the photograph he had been shown while putting on the aftershave and ruffling his hair. It would be an exceptionally hard assignment._

_He took a taxi downtown. He made the driver stop at a club. It wasn't the location he'd been given though. He was supposed to walk at least three blocks so the taxi couldn't be linked to anything special._

_He found the place. It was a café. There weren't many people. He ordered a cup of coffee. Black. He didn't really like the taste but he drank it anyway._

_The target was serving other customers. There weren't many of them there._

_It was a woman. Younger than him, he thought, maybe nineteen or twenty. 'With her whole life ahead of her,' he thought sadly. His expression hardened. Josephine, Georgia and Brian had more life ahead of them._

_She was black. Her twinkling eyes, long eyelashes and sleek, curly hair were black._

_As far as Joe could see, she had nothing in common with the other two victims._

_He followed her around with his eyes. That was the first glitch, maybe she'd never get close enough for him to get an eye contact._

_But she did, fortunately. Or unfortunately. _

_She came to clear the table next to him and he openly surveyed her behind and when she finally noticed she smiled teasingly at him and he leered back._

_Risk two: Maybe she didn't dig the blond-blue-eyed-type._

'_What a lotta faith they must have in me,' he thought sourly._

"_Can I service you?" _

_He looked up at her; caught on the double meaning of her words._

"_Yes. You can bring me the check," he said, observing her face closely._

_-"Just a moment," her eyes stayed on him while she walked away._

_He emptied the cup and when she returned he paid in cash. He stood up and shoved the change into his pocket._

_She was much smaller than him and she watched him expectantly; didn't lift her head, just her eyes. It made them seem bigger, and more seductive._

"_How long is your shift?" he asked._

_She smiled that teasing smile again. "It's over in a few minutes."_

_They exchanged lustful gazes._

_He didn't remember exactly how, but somehow they ended up in front of an apartment block, then they were kissing inside the elevator and then they were in her small but tidy apartment._

_Her hands were tangled in his hair and his were under her shirt undoing her bra and their tongues were entangled._

'_This isn't part of the plan,' he told himself, 'You can't sleep with her; that's detectable. You can't sleep with her; you're supposed to kill her.'_

_He gasped and pushed her away. He breathed heavily as he watched her and mental images of his family and the longing for feeling loved struggled inside of him._

'_I have her. I don't need anyone else, I'm in love,' said a voice in his head._

'_You met her ten minutes ago, you don't know her at all. You're going to finish the assignment. For the family, the ones you really love,' said a stronger voice._

"_Are you all right?" she asked and worriedly bit her lip. Her beautiful black eyes examined him. "Should… should I call a doctor or something?"_

_Why did she have to die? What had she done to become a thorn in the Agency's side?_

_She took his hands and bowed her head to look into his eyes. "Hey…?"_

_He looked at her for a moment with pain. Then he closed his eyes and opened them again. "I want you," he whispered and pulled her closer._

"_Well…mutual…Mmmmh" she sighed in response to his kisses._

_The memories of how they got into the bedroom were blurred. They undressed each other and fell down on the bed where they rolled around._

_He took her face into his hands while he kissed her, she rolled him over so she was on top of him, he rose up to kiss and suck on her chest. She moaned pleasantly._

"_What's your name?"_

_The question startled him. "What?"_

"_I gotta know what name to scream out," she explained with a grin._

_He snorted playfully and continued kissing her._

"_Tell me," she demanded, laughing._

_He stopped. "It's Joe," he said after a while._

"_Ok, good…Joe…" she smiled and pushed him down and reached for a small package in the side drawer._

_He held her by the hips, helped her moving. He loved the moans and little out-cries that she didn't try to repress at all. He loved the sight of her, her closed eyes and open mouth, her sweaty breasts bouncing. He loved the feeling of warmth and lust._

_She moved his hands to her breasts and he caressed them and then found his hold on her hips again._

_Her moans were getting louder, her movements getting wilder._

_He tried to keep his eyes open when the ecstasy hit them, to see her throw her head back before falling down on him trembling._

_His heartbeat slowed down and the feeling returned to his legs but he didn't move. He fell asleep with her on top of him, still inside of her._

_He woke up with a bad taste in his mouth. He had completely ruined the assignment. He silently cursed himself. Then he looked down. She was sleeping with her head on his chest. He stroked over her hair, then he shook his head and closed his eyes. Maybe there was still time to finish it. He had his gun in his jacket, maybe he could make it look like a screwed-up break-in. He shook his head again. His plans were so below Frank's and the Agency's._

_She was beginning to stir. Eventually she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Oh, hi, didn't notice you there," she said in a drowsy voice. Then she smiled and reached up to kiss him. It was awful; neither had brushed their teeth since last morning. But it was still nice._

_He didn't stop for breakfast. He took a train to Bayport and a cab to his apartment where he showered and ate a little. Then he spent a good time pacing around and waiting to be contacted and faced with the punishment._

_But no one showed up or called or anything. Maybe he still had time to set things right. He was pretty sure that he'd know if Hood was angry with him. He sat down with a water bottle and tried to make a "decent" plan._

_He found a note with a phone number in his jacket pocket when he went to get his gun. Above the number was a name. Maria Black. He knew exactly who Maria Black was. Only she could have such a fitting name. He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. He had to kill Maria Black._

_He went to see her that same night. He took his gun with him. There was a silencer on it. He couldn't come up with anything better than the attempted break-in._

_He was greeted by the smell of strong spices and then a deep kiss from Maria. She had been expecting him._

_She led him into the tiny living room and handed him a wineglass and took a sip from her own._

"_I'm sorry, I don't drink," he said and put the glass back on the table. He couldn't be drunk when he'd do it._

_She raised her eyebrows. "No? Not even for special occasions?"_

_He shook his head._

"_Well, I hope you're hungry though 'cause I've worked my butt off to cook this meal," she said and grinned._

"_Oh, I am hungry," he assured her._

_She looked at him with a smirk; caught on the double meaning of his words._

_The few bites he had of the dish did taste wonderful but they didn't last sitting at the table, they much more felt like being on the top of it. And again Joe's plans went out the window._

_The Agency didn't contact him for weeks and he was guiltily enjoying the time he spent with Maria. He had no idea how things were with Frank or Callie. For all he knew they could both be dead. He knew he was being incredibly selfish for someone in his position. The Agency could probably very well take Maria and use her to manipulate him. And he was in constant pain over his betrayal to Frank and Callie._

_At times he just thought he might as well let them get killed sooner than later, he saw no chance of freeing them…except through death. A long and probably torturous death._

_Then he thought of the children. No, he couldn't let anything happen to them. Any of them. Except for Maria. And when he thought of that he wanted to die himself. Maybe that was the best way. Then he didn't have to worry about anything. But then they would make Callie a punch bag and Frank would have to do the things he was doing. He couldn't put them through that._

_One night, over a month later, when Joe came to his apartment in Bayport from Maria, four people were waiting for him there. One woman, three men, one of the men sat on the couch and the others stood protectively around him._

"_Are you an agent?" Joe asked the one who seemed to be the leader and his heart sank._

"_I'm Robin Hood," the man said. He was not like the Robin Hood Joe had previously met. This one was younger, rougher, most likely crueler. _

_-"Where's the other one?"_

_-"You don't need to know. You just need to know who you're taking the orders from." _

_There was silence._

_Hood Jr. cleared his throat. "Things have been dragging a little with Ms. Black, haven't they?"_

_Joe couldn't answer. The pain he felt was so overwhelming, he didn't trust himself to speak._

_So Hood continued. "The timing you were given was over a month ago. We've been rather generous here; we haven't pushed you at all but our patience in running out, Joe. And this delay will come down on the children if you fail one more time. You have until Monday morning."_

_Joe swallowed. "What…what…day…is it…today?" he asked shakily._

"_It's Friday," Hood replied. "Do you understand your orders?"_

_Joe understood this man wouldn't accept half an answer or 'maybes' so he nodded. "Yes."_

"_Excellent. Remember, until Monday morning," then the agents left._

_He was sick the rest of the night. At one point he couldn't understand how many tears his eyes could produce for him to cry or much gall there was in his entrails for him to throw up._

_He didn't sleep the entire night and before noon, he took his gun and went to New York._

_The smile froze on her face when she saw him when she opened the door. "Joe, oh my god, you look terrible. Is something wrong? Are you sick?" she stroked his clammy cheek lovingly._

_He pushed her hand away and shook his head. "It's nothing." His voice came out so raw, he hardly recognized it._

_He followed her inside._

"_Would you like some coffee or tea maybe?" she asked gently._

_He shook his head._

"_You know, you really should see a doctor," she said and chewed on her lip and drummed her fingers on her crossed arms. _

_He took her by the shoulders and held her still. "Maria…"_

_She looked into his eyes. She always kept her chin paralleled to the ground and moved her eyes upwards._

"_What's wrong, Joe?"_

_He hesitated. "Have you ever heard of…the Agency?"_

_Her eyes widened and she clasped a hand over her mouth. She backed a few steps away from him. "Wh-why?"_

"_I…" he didn't know what to say. 'I work for them? They're manipulating me? They're slowly killing me?'_

_Suddenly she started coughing, and then breathing shallowly._

_Joe started. "Maria, what's going on?" He watched her look for something._

_The shallow breathing turned to wheezing._

"_Maria?"_

"_My…my…my medicine…" she choked out._

_-"Why? Wha…What's wrong?"_

_-"Asthma… attack…"_

_-"Ok. Where's the medicine?" he tried to keep calm._

_She shook her head. "Don't…know…try the…bathroom…"_

_He went into the bathroom and searched in the closets until he found the inhaler._

"_This?" he held it in front of her._

_She nodded and reached for it. But he didn't give it to her._

"_Maria, what do you know about the Agency?"_

"_What…? Joe… please…" she was looking at him desperately._

_-"Will you tell me about it?"_

_She shook her head. The sweat was starting to run down her face. "Can't…can't tell you…I…I swore…"_

_Joe looked at the little object in his hand and pondered its importance. "Not even if I give you the medicine?"_

"_Joe…! I beg you…!" she was crying, and it seemed to hurt a lot._

_He swallowed. He didn't want anything more than to give her the medicine. Except for one thing: He wanted to see his beloved family free and happy again. And he wanted that so desperately._

_It seemed her eyes were growing larger, he could see the white all around the black circles._

_The wheezing and snuffle sounds were almost unbearable, and her crying…_

"_Joe…Joe…please, please…Joe…"_

_He closed his eyes and cried too. He wasn't sure if the attack would fade, but he didn't want to take any chances. He had to keep her in shock._

"_I work for them…The Agency," he said through the tears._

_She stared him. "Wha..! No! God…No…"_

"_They…" he couldn't go on. He closed his eyes again to regain a grain of composure. "They assigned me to…to kill you."_

_She was crying harder and shaking, almost like she was having a seizure. Her skin was starting to turn blue and she was in such pain._

_Her trembling legs suddenly gave in but Joe caught her before she fell to the floor._

"_Oh, Maria, baby…" he kissed her sweaty forehead through his sobs. "I don't wanna do this, I really don't but I must. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"_

_The wheezes got more violent, she was choking. Finally she stopped moving. The sparkle left the black eyes._

_He allowed him self five minutes of grieving. Then he took the medicine and clasped her lifeless hand around it and then dropped it to the floor, not far from her out reached hand._

_He carefully laid her down; didn't close her eyes. He waited a few hours. Then he called 911._

_The next days he fully played out the role of a grieving lover, although not much acting skills were required for that role._

_He said he had found her on the floor when he was coming to visit her._

_There was a small-scaled investigation. Officially she died of asthma attack but there were suspicions about Joe. There were a few who thought he had murdered her but there was a lack of evidence and he was a known enough individual of the society for most people to eat up everything he said._

_The Agency sent a man just to inform him they were satisfied, although it was a close call._

_But never again was it as hard to take lives as before._


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: I realize that there's another story here with 'The Agency' and it wasn't my intention to steal that name, I had decided it long before I read that story. It's just a very convenient name, you see..:)**_

**_I divided the story into two parts mainly for readers' comfort. So here's the 2nd part:_**

_Eventually he moved to New York. There wasn't much left of the Hardy's investigation firm with both Fenton and Frank gone. He rented a small apartment with a dormer._

_He started working at a police station._

_The Agency contacted him now and then and gave him assignments. The police would sometimes investigate some of the cases that just seemed to unbelievable to be an accident and Joe would do his best to lead them astray._

In the past year he had killed 10 persons. This one would be the 11th. The Agency had contacted him by sending someone, as always.

_When he came home from work a man and a woman were sitting on his couch._

"_Good morning, Mr. Hardy," the woman greeted as he rolled his eyes when he noticed them._

"_You have an assignment for me, right?" he said tiredly._

_She nodded and told him where and when to meet Hood._

And that was how he ended up on the balconies with the lonely, rich woman in the Mayor's birthday party.

"So, where's your husband?" he asked.

She snorted softly. "He's probably somewhere inside, flirting with a maid or stuffing himself with caviar," she said bitterly.

"And leaving a pretty thing like you on your own?" he seemed genuinely surprised.

She smiled at him. "Tell me, Mr. Hardy; is it a hobby of yours to flirt with other men's women when no one's looking?"

"Nope. I only wanna cheer up the lonely ones. Aren't you lonely, ma'am?" 'What a bunch of bullshit,' he thought to himself.

"Well, I guess I could do with the company," she replied.

There was a while of silence.

Joe watched from the corner of his eye another man leave the other side of the balcony and head inside. The chance was nearing. They were alone.

He looked over the parapet. "My…that's a pretty long fall. Wonder what it would be like…"

She cast him a wary side glance.

He was about to make the move when all out of sudden, an older man in a tuxedo came strolling out.

"Ah, Allison, there you are!"

Joe nodded knowingly to himself. The man was just like he imagined: The mustache, the hairdo, the greasy fingers just out of the caviar dish.

Allison's husband stopped. "Who's your friend there?"

"Um…this is Mr. Hardy," the woman said.

"Really?" he was drunk and unbalanced. "What were you talking about?"

"Just my plan to kidnap your wife, take her to a tropical island where we'll spend the days making love on the beach and verbally abusing you," he didn't say it like he was joking; with his eyes he was challenging the man.

And the man narrowed his eyes. "Are you trying to be funny?"

"Not really," Joe said, tensing up. The chance was gone. He had to play it by ear from there.

Allison stepped between them and laughed nervously. "Yes, honey, of course he was…" she glanced meaningfully at Joe.

Then man was looking at him too. "No, he wasn't."

Then Joe realized something. The man knew him. And he knew him also. He was a lieutenant in the NY police force. One of those who believed he had killed Maria Black. They had never been friends since they were sort of competing over a case. It was a long time ago. Back when his father was still alive.

'The old goat has a wife? Poor woman, I'm really doing her a favor here,' he was shocked. That was the way he was starting to think in? Had he really become this soulless?

"So Hardy, intent on stealing my wife as well as my honor?" the man watched him with disgust.

Joe was starting to feel very bad. He'd never had this kind of confrontation before; it had always been just him and the victim. Sometimes the victim didn't even know he was there.

'How the hell did the plan do again? Oh, fuck, I can't remember the plan! What was it? Push her over…push her over…and then say I pushed her because…. No, no, no, no, no, not like that… Say she fell and I tried to… No… Damn it! It doesn't matter, the plan's useless now.'

He started to reach for his gun. Then man noticed and was quicker to get his.

"What was your plan of action, Hardy?" he asked victoriously, pointing the handgun at him. "Kill me? Like that girl, Maria Black?"

Joe's empty blue eyes sought the ground.

"You're….you're not denying it?" the man seemed surprised.

Joe looked up again. His world was about to crash down. He was done for if this man lived. And so was his family. He had to finish the assignment.

In a flash he got the gun, aimed it at the target and fired.

The woman gasped and sunk down on the floor, trying to support herself by the parapet. But she didn't have a chance, she was dying.

The man froze. "Alli…Allison?!"

Joe made a new aim in a hurry and fired again. The man fell down, dead in an instant. He heard loud clicking of heels and hurried to exchange guns with the body.

Mrs. Rogers came out on the balcony, saw the scenario and screamed. Then she fainted. More people came out.

Joe looked like he was panicking. "I….I…I tried to….he…he shot her….I tried to…I was…too late…too late to…" he looked at the gun in his hand seemingly shocked. But his insides twitched and he could hardly believe his luck. The gun he was holding was the same type as the one he had put in the dead man's hand. Maybe he could still save Frank from punishment.

Two men took him by the shoulders and led him inside. There were quite a few cops there but more were called.

He was thoroughly interrogated as he was the only witness and the only suspect in the case. He stuck firmly to his tale: He had been talking to the woman, her husband walked in on them and in some jealousy frenzy he had shot the woman and aimed at him but he'd been quick enough to get his own gun and fire, in self defense. There were doubts but lack of evidence.

He felt much relief when he got out of the building. After showering he tried to sleep but when he lay still he felt like he would suffocate. He had to get up and pace back and forth in the living room. It was hard to breath and everything felt heavy.

He was sick of the life he was living. Everyday haunted by the photographs he'd been shown. Smiling people –dead people…. Lifeless black eyes…the last look Frank gave him, Frank and Callie saying goodbye to each other… It depended on him whether that had been the last time they ever saw each other. Frank bound to a chair in a small room….

He hadn't seen Frank since the old Robin Hood had shown him the monitor for the surveillance camera. Maybe he was dead, maybe they all were. The Agency easily could have just told him they were alive and take his fear to their advantage.

A week passed. News of his latest two murders had caught the media's attention. He was in the spotlight. Debatable. –Innocent victim of the circumstances? Or a sly murderer?

He was so close to being uncovered. He really didn't care anymore.

One night, late, he came home from yet another interrogation to find an agent sitting in his living room. It was a woman and she was alone which was unusual.

"Another assignment?" he asked indifferently.

She shook her head. "No. You need to come with me."

She took him to a car outside. Not black, Joe noticed, like most of the Agency's vehicles but dark green. The woman sat with him in the backseat. She only ordered the driver 'Go.'

"I'm afraid I must blindfold you," she said and bent down to pick up a small box from the floor.

Joe snorted. "You new with the company?" he asked dryly. They had never been 'afraid they must' do anything.

She didn't answer him but when she leaned towards him she looked into his eyes. "You are so dead inside," she said sadly.

He twitched. What kind of an agent was this?

Then she had her arms around his neck to tie the black ribbon at the back of his head. She took her time doing it and it was becoming more than little uncomfortable for Joe, not to mention her perfume, its light but sickly sweet smell made him nauseous.

The drive took unusually long, it took about two hours, he thought.

Then he was led out of the car and into some building. He wasn't taken all over it, just directly to a room. No stairs, no elevators.

He heard soft footsteps and then the door was gently closed.

"You may remove the blindfold," the woman's voice said.

He did. He had to blink several times before he got used to the brightness. This wasn't Hood's office.

There was a thick, soft, furry white carpet on the floor. The furniture was made of light wood, birch or pine, unpainted. There were landscape paintings on the creamy walls. The curtains, covering the one window, were white with laces. And it was bright. The lights seemed white rather than yellow.

She sat behind the desk, with her legs folded beneath her. She had taken off the black, long coat. She was wearing a white costume with a skirt that reached a little over her knees and a jacket with wide sleeves. Her long brown hair was done in a single braid which she had over her shoulder.

She gestured at the chair in front of the desk. "Have a seat, please."

He did so. "Who are you?"

She watched him curiously with her light brown eyes. "Singular or plural?"

-"What?"

-"When you say 'you,' you mean singular or plural?"

-"Singular. To begin with," he said after some hesitation. He was confused.

Then she smiled. "I guess we could call me Little Red Riding Hood," she laughed lightly.

"How about Snow White?" Joe suggested, finding it a much more appropriate name.

She shrugged. "Take your pick."

-"All right…'Snow White,' and the plural?"

She put her legs down and leaned forwards. "We are the real Agency."

"The 'real' Agency?" he snorted.

-"We are. Those who you've met are a branch of us, a spoiled and scandalous branch of us."

-"Ah. So, you're the Network?"

-"The what?"

-"Forget it."

She decided to ignore this little quibble.

"And what do you want from me?" Joe asked and crossed his arms.

-"I want to help you."

Joe lifted his eyebrows. "Help me what?"

-"To get your family back."

-"Why would you want to do that?"

-"So you can join us."

Joe stared at her, almost gaping. "Are you serious? Haven't I been through enough from you people?" he stopped to think it over. "Why? Why would I agree on that?"

"It all relates, Joe," her eyes never left his, though she was rocking from side to side. The chair was on wheels. "We want you to work with us. You can't because they will find out and probably kill your family. We can help you to free them. When they don't have them, they have no power over you; you'd be free to do what you want. But we won't help you unless you agree to work with us afterwards."

-"What would I be doing for you?"

-"Not killing people."

Joe took a deep breath. "All right, let's say I'd agree on your terms. Could you guarantee my family would get away unharmed?"

She shook her head. "Alive, but maybe not unharmed. You haven't heard anything from Hood for a while, am I correct?"

He nodded and she continued.

"He's probably been using that time to punish your family somehow because of your failure on last assignment, the man wasn't supposed to die…" she bit her lip, hesitating, thinking.

"I know where they are; the mother and the children," she then said.

Joe looked at her.

"The odds are in our favor," she said and smiled.

He contemplated everything that had been said.

"So, what do you say?" she stretched out her hand to him. "Do we have an agreement?"

-"How do I know this isn't some sort of a trap?"

"A trap for what? They got everything you got, there's nothing left. If they wanted to kill you they'd do it more directly," she pointed out.

He looked into her eyes. He couldn't find anything there to make him believe she was lying. The Agency had done a lot of things to him but so far they had never been untrue to their words.

It was his last straw, last chance, last hope.

He took her hand.

Then he was taken home the same way he'd been brought there but 'Snow White' said she'd be in touch with him later.

A few days later he was contacted by Hood's men. He was to meet him at a restaurant.

He was already there when Joe arrived.

"Assignment?" Joe asked after being invited to sit down.

Hood nodded. "Yes." He pushed a photograph over the table.

Joe studied the picture. Another woman. He peered at it. 'Snow White?' He showed no expression as he passed the photo back.

"And the plan?"

Hood lowered his voice to give him the plan.

Joe nodded and then leaned forwards. "I've been wondering, Hood, how do I know my family really is alive?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hood narrowed his eyes.

-"Just what I'm saying."

Hood also leaned forwards towards him. The distance between their noses was very short.

"You know that, Joe, because of your little mistakes the other day I had to starve the children for a week. I mean, it didn't kill them but I'm sure they weren't feeling too great either."

A surge of rage went through Joe. He wanted to reach out, grab the man by the collar and beat him to a bloody pulp. But he kept his cool.

"Maybe they're already dead and you're just telling me this to keep me working," he said.

Hood patted a finger on his nose. "But are you willing to take the chance that I'm not?"

Joe looked at him heatedly. No, he wouldn't take that chance. Not yet.

When he got away from Hood he became nervous. The newest target was 'Snow White.' Wasn't that too much of a coincidence? Did they know that they were familiar with each other? Were they playing with them?

He didn't like the plan. It was too intimate, too much like the plan with Maria. And besides that he had met her before. And what would happen when the fake Agency would find out the target wasn't dead? And would 'Snow White' see it coming? He would just have to wait and see.

He had the most uncomfortable flashbacks as he was seated in the café. 'Snow White' was sitting a few tables away and she hadn't noticed him yet. She looked a lot different from what Joe remembered. She seemed older, although Joe had never actually tried to guess her age. The braid was still intact but she was wearing jeans and a blouse and not looking nearly as dignified as before.

She sat there sipping from a cup of coffee. There was a child with her; a little boy. Joe frowned, that might complicate things a little.

He wasn't sure how to make contact with her. He couldn't remember how to flirt with women, not even to pretend and with the child around it just seemed inappropriate.

While thinking of a way, he kept his eyes fixed on her and suddenly she looked his way. Her eyes widened in surprised when she recognized him. He smiled a little. Then he quickly scanned the place in search for something useful. The toilets. He'd have to walk past her table to get there. As he got up he noticed her taking a sip from a water bottle and then put it down close to the edge of the table.

He walked fast past the table and knocked the bottle over in the way and the water spilled all over the table and the floor.

There was a little chaos as she and the boy stood up and tried to prevent more water from leaking to the floor and the waitresses brought cloths to dry it up and Joe just stood and excused himself.

"I'm so sorry, are you all right?" he asked when things slowed down.

She smiled. "Yes, of course, it was only a little bit of water."

They stood there looking into each other's eyes until it became awkward and the boy got impatient and starting tugging on her sleeve.

"Mom, are we going yet?"

She broke the eye contact with Joe to look at him.

"Yeah, honey, sure. Just a minute." She looked back at Joe.

"I better…um…" Joe cleared it throat and pointed towards the toilets with his head but before he left, he mouthed 'Wait' and hoped she had gotten it though she showed no signal of it.

But she was still there when Joe came out of the rest room.

He stopped by her table. "Are you sure you don't want me to pay for your drink?"

-"That's kind of you but really, there's no need, it wasn't expensive."

From there they started to casually discuss their opinions on commodity prices and the economic system.

The act was tiring. Joe wanted to get it over with and ask her out already. But it had to look as normal as possible. And the boy was in the way.

But it was he who unknowingly provided the solution.

"Mom, you promised we could go to the park. -This century," he said.

Joe saw the idea shoot down in her at the same moment it hit him.

"Yes, honey, we're going, we're going…um…" she hesitated. "Would you…would you like to join us?" she then asked Joe.

He took his time considering it. "Well…you sure your husband wouldn't mind?" That was a way to enquire into the boy's existence. Any man would ask something like that.

She smiled. "I'm single."

Joe turned to the boy. "Are you ok with that?"

The boy looked a little confusedly up at his mother before he shrugged. "Ok, whatever."

Joe and 'Snow White' smiled at each other.

"I haven't been to the park for the longest time," he said to her as they left the café. The boy was a few feet in front of them.

"We don't go there often either," she said.

"How old is he?" Joe asked, pointing with his head towards the boy.

-"My son? 9, turning 10."

-"What happened to his…his father?"

-"He died."

-"Oh."

He decided not to ask more questions for now.

They walked in silence to the park. Joe compared the mother and son in his mind. In a way they were alike and in a way they were not.

The boy had her brown eyes and dreamy expression but his hair was jet black and he had dimples in his cheeks.

When they came to the park the boy started to run towards the pond where a few people helped children tossing bread at the ducks.

"RJ, don't go too far, ok? We'll sit down right here," 'Snow White' called after him.

Joe sat down beside her on a bench.

"Does…does RJ mean Robin…something?" Joe whispered.

"What's going on?" she whispered back instead of answering the question.

"You're the target," he replied.

-"And?"

-"And? Well, I was hoping you could tell me what to do, 'cause obviously I ain't finishing the assignment."

She sighed. "We'll figure it out," she then said.

RJ came running to them. "Hey, mom, there's a woman there selling…you know –duck food? Can I buy some to give them?"

"Sure, here," she smiled and gave him some money.

"You never answered my question," Joe said when RJ had run off again. "Does 'R' stand for Robin?"

She nodded and looked at him. "Everything will be explained in time." She looked back over the pond. "Let's look at this little time as a day of freedom and let's enjoy it."

Joe couldn't enjoy it. It seemed unfair to him that her child could run around, carefree and happy in the bloom of his youth while his nieces and nephew had to suffer for the actions of the adults.

He imagined the three of them on a sunny day like this, coming running towards him, calling 'Uncle Joe!' They'd be smiling and laughing and he'd be waiting with his arms spread for them to run into and be kept safe.

Those thoughts brought tears to his eyes.

They agreed to meet next night.

She picked him up from the police station since she had a car and he didn't. He didn't actually work so much these days as he was still a suspect for his last assignment. He didn't really believe he'd get away with it. It was probably a matter of time before someone showed up saying he'd witnessed everything from another building or the experts found that something didn't add up to his story or someone would realize there was something not right with his invitation card.

But he hoped that his new ally, 'Snow White' with her 'real' Agency could and would help him with that.

They had a reservation on a French restaurant.

"What am I supposed to call you?" he asked before they got out of the car. "It would be ridiculous to call you 'Snow White' in there."

She thought about it. "Why don't you choose me a name?"

-"Ok…um… how about Georgia?"

She shook her head. "No, that's your niece."

-"Ann then?"

-"Ann it is. Just remember it."

They had a lovely dinner and anyone would have believed they were just two people looking for love. Joe paid for the meal –in cash as always –and put his arm over her shoulder on their way out to the car. She drove to the end of a row of townhouses.

"Is this where you live?" he asked.

"Sometimes," she answered and took the key out of the ignition so everything became very quiet. "How's the plan?"

He shrugged. "Hood told me how to find you –where and when –and to get into your house and then 'freestyle'…just make it look like accident."

-"Were you supposed to take anything from there?"

He shook his head. "No."

She nodded apparently satisfied. "All right, good." She opened the door and got out and Joe did the same. He let her put his hands on her waist and her arms around his neck.

"Where's RJ?" he whispered into her ear.

"With his friends," she replied the same way. Then she pulled him down and kissed him and steered him backwards to the door.

It was a pure act, much different than it was with Maria, he thought. He wasn't attracted to this woman like he had been with her and they let go of each other the moment they'd closed the door behind them.

She didn't turn on any lights, except for one lamp in the living room and she dimmed the light. Then she went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "Thirsty?"

He shook his head but she opened a can of cola and took a long sip. "We have to wait a couple of hours."

Joe smirked a little. "If it's for what I think it's for I think we might have to wait a little longer than that."

She ignored this. "You can lie down or something if you want."

"Only if you tell me a little bed time story," he said.

She stared at him. "About what?"

He shrugged. "Your Agency, your son, the Robin Hoods, whatever."

-"That all relates and it's a long tale."

-"Well, didn't you say we had to wait a couple of hours?"

She sighed. "All right, you win."

He smiled and leaned back in the sofa with his hands behind his head.

She began her story.

"I was already grown up when my father told me he was the leader of a secret organization, the Agency, and that I was to become leader in his stead when he'd pass away –which he then did. Although it was the last thing I wanted I did as he told me. I gathered so-called 'agents' and tried to fight enemies that…others couldn't handle."

Joe understood that 'others' were the authorities.

"But then," she continued, "I met a man and fell in love and got pregnant. At first I had no intentions of keeping the child. I wanted to give it up for adoption but when he was born I couldn't bring myself to do it. All the while his father had been using me to get closer to the Agency and make a plan to take over it. And when I told him I wanted to keep RJ he became very mean to me and whenever he heard him cry he threatened to silence him permanently since I couldn't do it properly. In the end I fled with RJ and went into hiding. While I was away Robin made some 'changes' inside the Agency, and he started to call himself 'Robin Hood.' He always said that the rich should share with the poor. That's what he wanted in the beginning –an equal world –I don't know what they want now. But he put up a department of contract killer and trapped people, like you, and their mission was to get rid of everyone loyal to the old Agency. Like your brother and your Maria," she looked at him sympathetically.

He didn't say anything so she continued.

"But they saw some use in your brother so they didn't kill him. They just…did what they did. And Maria wasn't an agent. Her brother was and he was killed and by some mistakes she witnessed it. The Robin Hood of that time haunted her down and threatened to kill her if she told her anyone and even though she didn't tell anyone he didn't trust her so he gave you the assignment. He found out Frank had told you and his wife about the Agency and took them captives but he keeps you silent by making you do things you can't talk about."

The lump in his throat didn't allow him to speak this time and she kept going.

"Anyway, five years ago I returned to the Agency and saw what was happening. I contacted all the old agents I knew were alive and gathered new ones. And since then we've been trying to fight both this…Hyde of our Jekyll as well as our real enemies."

There was silence for a full minute.

"Did you kill the 'original Robin Hood'?" Joe then asked.

She nodded after some hesitation. "But as it turned out, he had made back-up plans for that."

-"And did you and your people kill the others?"

-"The Robin Hoods? No, they change frequently. It's a safety thing; they have strong enemies and many untrustworthy allies."

Joe looked at his watch. "Has there passed enough time?"

She glanced at a clock on the mantelpiece and nodded. "Sure, if that's all right with your macho." She stood up. "Did you have any kind of set-up in mind?"

Joe also stood up. "I don't know. I think Hood searches for bodies when I'm supposed to be done."

She nodded. "All right, we'll set the house on fire," she said determinedly.

Joe stared at her. "Wha… Are you insane? There…there're people. If anyone else gets hurt I don't think Hood will be too happy."

"Don't worry, no one will get hurt, the bedroom's on the other side of the house. We'll start the fire in the bed, lock the door and wait outside and if things go out of hands we call the fire department," she said.

Joe thought over the situation in a hurry. "It's not gonna work. Even if you burnt the place down, there'd still be a body –bones. The only way to make all leads disappear would be a huge explosion, and we can't do that because there are people around here."

-"But if we get a body to burn?"

Joe looked at her. "Do I even wanna know what you're thinking?"

"I don't know. Do you?" she looked up at him and the look made him shiver.

He groaned in defeat. "All right then…what do you propose?"

-"I just need to make a phone call."

A van marked with the label of a transportation company stopped outside the house. Two men wearing t-shirts and baseball caps with the same label stepped out and rang the doorbell.

"Ms. McCain?" inquired one of them. "Did you order a floor lamp from Jack Dunn & co., 6,5 feet tall, with an embroidered shade and asked for home transportation?"

-"I did," Ms. McCain answered.

The two men went to get the oblong cardboard box from the van and carried it all the way inside.

"Do you need any help installing it?" One of them asked.

"No, thank you, I can handle it," Ms. McCain declined.

The men smiled politely and left.

The box was in the hallway. Joe came out of his retreating spot. 'Snow White-Ann-Ms. McCain' fetched a utility knife to cut the cardboards of the box to reveal a shoddy wooden box.

The lamp was there; ready to be placed in the living room. Only the shade had to be attached. But under the pole which held up the light was the real package wrapped up in a bubble wrap: A naked female body, about Snow White's height and weight, similar structure, long brown hair even done in a braid.

Joe hated to have to carry it from the hallway to Snow White's bedroom.

They placed it on the bed.

"There are some whiskey bottles in a closet in the living room. Go get them," Snow White ordered him.

He did.

"Do you have a lighter or something?" she asked after pouring from the bottles over the body, the bed and splashing some on the walls and the curtains.

He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and handed it to her. "You gotta do it." Even though he knew it was dead, he didn't want to do it, didn't want to see what happened when fire and flesh collided.

She just nodded, took the lighter, lit it and let the small flame touch the wet cover on the bed. And then the pillow and lastly the curtains that burned up in a few seconds.

"All right, let's get out of here," Snow White said.

They ran outside to her car and sped away from the burning house.

Joe looked back. "Are you sure we can just leave like that?"

She nodded. "Sure. The guys are still there."

-"The agents?"

-"Yeah."

Of course the men that brought the body from the Agency's morgue were agents themselves.

"And where are we going?" Joe asked.

"Headquarters, we need to speed up our plans before Hood finds out I'm not dead."

"You…you mean…my…?" Joe's eyes threatened to well up with tears.

Snow White –that was just what she was to him, a fairy tale princess that came out of a dream to save him –glanced at him and smiled. "Yes, I mean to get your family back."

She didn't bother to blindfold him and he didn't bother to remember the way they were driving in the excitement. He could hardly believe after all this time, that he'd get to see them again and set them free.

'Nothing will go wrong, it can't,' he promised himself.

She parked the car outside the white building and when they got inside there was a large group of people waiting in a meeting room. They were all wearing black clothes, not suits but t-shirts, sweaters and rubber soled shoes.

"This is our SWAT team," 'Snow White' said to Joe. She turned to the one man in the room who was wearing gray suits. He was gray-haired and bearded. "Did you get my message, Mr. Gates?"

"Yes, I did ma'am…although I'm not entirely sure I understood them," the man said rather nervously.

'Snow White' crossed her arms. "What didn't you understand, Mr. Gates?"

"Well, the part about attacking Robin Hood and force him down, we don't even know for sure where he is," the man said.

'Snow White' looked at him for a moment. "He's in the old headquarters," she then answered.

"How do you know that?" Mr. Gates carefully asked.

"Are you doubting me, Mr. Gates?" 'Snow White' sent a steely gaze his way.

-"No, ma'am, I only wonder if your resources are reliable."

-"They are."

Mr. Gates decided to say no more.

"All right, if no one has any further questions, may I explain the procedure?" she looked over the group. Nobody spoke.

"Good, we will divide into two groups. One will take Hood and the other the Farm, do not harm the captives there, three of them are children. Blake," 'Snow White' addressed a very tall man with crew cut hair and oversized, crossed arms.

"You will lead A-team to Hood's headquarters, come from east to the building, mine will come from the west and we will surround it. No bombs, no fires, nothing that will risk the safety of the hostage. He's too important; he can provide us with a great deal of information. Kennedy…" 'Snow White' turned to a thin woman with large, salient eyes who was wearing tight black clothes that covered every inch of her except merely her face.

"Take your shadow-team to the Farm…Mr. Gates has the coordinates which you will fly by, you can eliminate anyone who gets in your way. There are four hostages, a woman and three children, try not to upset them. Those were your orders. Go and prepare now. You are dismissed."

'Snow White' finally turned to Joe who was rather overwhelmed by everything.

"You can decide with which group you go," she said.

"I want to go with you," he replied determinedly, "To get Frank."

She nodded. "Very well. Let's find you something better to wear."

The preparation took about five minutes. The A-team and B-team –which was 'Snow White's' team –filled up five vans while the shadow-team, which was made up of women only, took two helicopters, flying off to the east.

"How do you know all this stuff you know?" Joe asked 'Snow White' in a low voice in the car.

"I just know," she said and smiled. Then she leaned closer to him. "I have an inside man," she admitted, "We'll meet him when we get there."

The van was parked a good distance from the location. Joe stepped out into the comfortably cool night air and looked around. He wasn't familiar with the area. It was probably somewhere on the borders of the city. There were old buildings surrounded by tall wire fences.

Joe noticed a skewed sign on the fence which read: DANGER! Dangerous chemicals.

A black-clothed man, similar to any agent, came walking slowly towards them. One of the troops aimed a gun at him but 'Snow White' motioned for him to lower it.

The newcomer stopped and nodded to her. She walked to him.

"Well?" she required.

"Everything's set," the man said, "The hostage is in the basement. He's in an extremely bad condition. Hood should be in the office on third floor. When you come to the third floor, you go to the left, then the second turn to the right and then the first door to the left." The man stopped to see if 'Snow White' had gotten it all.

Joe had stopped listening after the part about the hostage who he knew was Frank. Now he had a single thought in his head: 'Basement, basement –Frank, save Frank.'

The undercover agent continued to give instructions and important locations. Then 'Snow White' contacted Blake by a walkie-talkie and told him exactly where to go and what to do.

Then they started to their destination. The spy pointed at quite a few security cameras which had to be shot down. Three guards also had to be shot. Even though the shots were muffled by silencers, somebody must have noticed the cameras going out so a quiet entrance was nearly impossible.

The spy was sent in first to put out the electricity. The others waited a little and then a man pulled up shears to cut a way through the wire fence. Already five people came running at them. The intruders formed a semi-circle with their backs to each other. 'Snow White's' team managed to shoot two of the attackers but it took a little longer to disable the rest but none of them were harmed during the fight and they continued to the dark building.

As soon as they were inside Joe wanted to run in search for his brother. 'Snow White' held him back. "Easy, Joe," she whispered. She turned on the flashlight on her riffle and pointed it in all directions. They heard noise all around them.

There was a rumble from 'Snow White's' walkie-talkie. "We're inside by the eastern entrance," said Blake's grave voice, "Moving to the second floor, we'll divide into to groups."

-"Gotcha, we're going to the basement, over."

-"I was done."

-"Oh. Over and out then."

She went ahead, followed closely by Joe. He was feeling strange. This whole thing seemed unreal, it was unbelievable that after all this time things were getting better, the world around was in a haze as he focused on his goal. It was too good to be true.

Suddenly someone yelped. Somebody had sneaked up behind them and attacked the person who was walking rearmost of the group and now held a gun to the man's head.

"Put down your weapons," the evil agent hissed.

'Snow White' hesitated for a few moments before she lifted her handgun swiftly and shot him in the head.

Her agent shrunk back from the body as it collapsed to the floor, rubbing his neck. "Now, that was a close call," he said roughly.

"It gets closer," she answered, "We should run."

And with that they took off running but they heard footsteps behind them getting closer. The ones in the rear turned around and shot at their foes.

Joe had decided he had had it with the killing. He couldn't kill any more people, not even his enemies. His face turned grim. Except maybe if he ever came across Robin Hood.

A group of people was blocking their way. Joe's expression hardened. That didn't mean he couldn't help them count ducks over their heads. He ran straight at the nearest person and knocked him over and out with his riffle.

Hood's agents were unprepared, unorganized and fewer in number so taking them down wasn't that hard.

A while later Blake informed that he had gotten Robin Hood. 'Snow White' smirked. "Good. Don't let him go anywhere."

Joe looked at her. She also had her personal issues with the line of Robin Hood. At last they found the door marked: Basement.

Joe drew a deep breath before he opened it. He pointed the riffle through the door, or more accurately, he pointed the flashlight on it through the door to see the stairs. He walked down it, every nerve tensed, his eyes wandered around looking for a possible threat. 'Snow White' and 6 others followed.

Joe lit the way ahead of him. The basement was a wide, open, empty space. On one wall there were endless loads of guns hanging and large boxes were stacked up against the walls. And on one wall there was a door. His heart nearly stopped. He knew what was behind this door. He felt it. He took off running, shooting the door right off its' hinges and burst into the room. It was a small room. There was another door on the opposite wall, there was a desk full of papers, it was turned off the lamp on it. In the middle of the floor was chair.

Joe's breath caught his throat. 'Frank?'

The figure tied to the chair was both familiar and unfamiliar. Familiar mainly because he was still wearing the same clothes as the last time they'd met. Unfamiliar because the face was covered with dark beard, the hair was longer, the skin was pale and stretched over fleshless bones. The head was bent down, hands tied behind the back. Arms scarred because of the ropes.

Joe tried to bear up, dried the tears off his cheeks and knelt by ancient-looking man. His brother.

"Frank?" he said softly, lifting the man's chin. His eyes were closed.

"Frank…it's me…" Joe's voice almost broke. "Frank…please, open you eyes…do you hear me…?"

Frank's eyelids twitched before he lifted them a little, then a little more. Then he started blinking. He tried to talk.

"It's ok, Frank, it's ok, you don't have to say anything now. I'm going to get you out of here," Joe said as he stood up and took a knife out the boot of his Agency-uniform which he used to cut the ropes off his brother's wrists. Then he carefully rubbed his arms and inspected the scars. They'd probably stay there forever.

"Can you stand, Frank?" Joe asked, wanting to get out this place as soon as possible.

Frank hardly moved.

'Snow White' came to them, carrying a bottle of water and a clean cloth. She wordlessly handed Joe the items. He poured some water on the cloth and cooled Frank's forehead and moisturized his lips and eyes.

Then Frank made a few attempts to talk. At first nothing came but a little sound. "Mh…" Then the sound started to take shape and after a while he managed to get out a word. "Joe…"

Joe's vision was blurred with tears again. He leaned forwards and rested his forehead against his brother's. "I'm here for you Frank. Just take your time. You'll be ok…"

After another while Frank made more words. "Callie…"

"Yeah…" Joe bit his lip wondering whether it would be an appropriate encouragement and then he said: "You know, you could see them a lot sooner if you tried to get up and come with us…"

Frank nodded slowly and tried to get up. It creaked eerily in his joints.

Meanwhile 'Snow White' had called the agents and now two strong men came into the room.

"Look, Frank, these people are going to help you, you have to let them, ok?" Joe looked into his brother's eyes, unsure of if he understood. But Frank nodded weakly and let the two men carry him.

The hardest part was the stairs but the rest was easier.

"We should get him to a hospital right away," 'Snow White' said as the agents laid Frank inside one of the vans.

"No…!" Frank rasped out but then started coughing. "Callie…my children…" he demanded in a low voice when the coughing fit was over.

Joe thought about arguing with him but he looked at him and saw the pleading his eyes. Then he looked back at 'Snow White.' "I think he has to see them first. He deserves as much, doesn't he?"

'Snow White' sighed. "Yeah. I guess you're right. I'll have a helicopter ready for you at our headquarters, I should go and see how Blake's doing with Hood. Parker can drive you back."

Joe was reluctant to depart with her. Since they had met she had practically carried him through everything.

"Hood can wait," he said, "Come with us."

"Ah, Joe…" she was about to demur but then she couldn't resist the begging blue eyes, "Oh, all right then, all right. Let's go then!"

She got into the van after Joe who helped Frank making himself comfortable, lying on the settle in the car with his head in Joe's lap, wrapped in a thick blanket.

The car ride took long enough for Joe to drowse a little while 'Snow White' called ahead so the helicopter would be ready.

Mr. Gates was there to greet them when they arrived back at the headquarters. Frank was carried inside and while they waited to get into the helicopter Joe tried to make him eat a few spoons of canned soup.

There were only the three of them passengers in the helicopter and Mr. Gates was going to fly it.

Joe paid no attention to the view that was starting to show as the sky lit up bit by bit. First a lilac color started to thin out the blue one, and it turned pink and then red and the sun came up to warm a new day.

"Do I ever get to know your real name?" Joe asked 'Snow White' who was sitting on the other side of Frank who was dosing off.

She smiled at him. "I really don't know. Wouldn't it ruin your vision of me?" she said and turned her head to look out the window. "We're getting there."

Joe looked out too. They were by the sea. The green meadows spread over the land and there was a little white house close to the shore where the blue waves licked the sand. A short distance from the house, were two helicopters and there was people everywhere.

Mr. Gates landed the helicopter beside the other two. Joe and 'Snow White' supported Frank out of it. Agent Kennedy came to them.

"Are everyone all right?" Joe asked.

She nodded and turned her attention to Frank. "Is this Mr. Hardy?"

Joe just nodded back and looked at his brother. "You hear that, Frank? They're ok."

Kennedy cleared her throat. "Well, I wouldn't say…well, they're alive, yes, but in a very bad condition…although not quite as bad as Mr. Hardy but still… it was rather traumatizing to find them…"

-"Just help us to get there," 'Snow White' interrupted.

-"Right."

As they got closer to the house the figures outside of it became clearer. There was a mass of agents but there was also someone who wasn't clad in black and three smaller than the others.

Joe felt a clump in his chest, threatening to burst any second. "Look, Frank…Look…"

Frank lifted his head. And there they were. His family.

Although Joe was overwhelmed by happiness, he was also sad when he saw them. They looked sick, all of them. Their hair was flat, they were pale and skinny and there were dark bags under their eyes.

"Dad! Dad! Dad! Is that you, daddy!" a little girl with blond locks came running towards them. Josephine.

Frank's face broke into a smile blended with tears when his arms wrapped around his daughter. He was too weak to stand so he fell to his knees. Callie and the twins came running too after a few seconds and the family held on to each other. They would never let go again.

Joe stood several feet away, holding a hand over his heart because it might burst with joy, with the overwhelming beauty of the scene before him. –Overwhelming pain over a loss he couldn't define. His eyes were unworthy of this precious sight. So he turned away.

His 'Snow White' was there smiling at him. "Could we please get them to a hospital when the hug-fest is over?" she complained.

Joe smiled at her. "You would look after them, wouldn't you?"

She stared at him. "If what?" she asked suspiciously.

-"If they needed it."

"Yeah, I suppose…" she hesitated before she put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek, "I suppose I would."

"Thank you." He looked back once more. Just then Frank looked up and right into his eyes. Words were unnecessary.

'Thank you.'

He treasured this memory as he walked towards the shore. He listened to the sound of the waves and the occasional squawk of the seagulls.

He pulled up his handgun and looked at it. He had known from the moment he saw the children running to greet their father. He could never be whole, no matter how happy he was. His mind and soul were too plagued by the past to start anew. Time can't heal everything.

_Sometimes there is only one way out…._

Besides, he was in need of a rest. He smiled wistfully to himself. An eternal rest.


End file.
